March 14, 2017

My FIFTH Open Letter To Senator Toomey

It's me, again. Your constituent who also writes for the local Pittsburgh-based political blog, "2 Political Junkies."

As may know the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently analyzed the American Health Care Act currently making it way through the House of Representatives. In the report, they wrote:

CBO and [Joint Committee on Taxation] estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under the legislation than under current law. Most of that increase would stem from repealing the penalties associated with the individual mandate. Some of those people would choose not to have insurance because they chose to be covered by insurance under current law only to avoid paying the penalties, and some people would forgo insurance in response to higher premiums.

Later, following additional changes to subsidies for insurance purchased in the nongroup market and to the Medicaid program, the increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number under current law would rise to 21 million in 2020 and then to 24 million in 2026. The reductions in insurance coverage between 2018 and 2026 would stem in large part from changes in Medicaid enrollment—because some states would discontinue their expansion of eligibility, some states that would have expanded eligibility in the future would choose not to do so, and per-enrollee spending in the program would be capped. In 2026, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law.

By my count that's 24 million Americans uninsured by 2026 - that's only 9 years from now, by the way. Given that some of those 24 million (tens of thousands, perhaps?) are Pennsylvanians, and given that without adequate health insurance, some of those people will be facing some serious medical issues and the corresponding medial bills, what are your plans to protect the health care of so many of your constituents?